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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Are all Principal Investigators (PIs) interviewed during the evaluation of the ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2019-SyG) call?

A:

Yes, for Synergy Grants (SyG), all Principal Investigators (PIs) whose proposal has been retained after step 2 will be invited to an interview in Brussels (in the third evaluation step).

It is highly recommended that all PIs are present at the interview to facilitate the assessment of the Synergy group. In very exceptional cases, in case a Principal Investigator is unable to attend the interview (e.g. pregnancy, immobility due to illness, expedition), the ERC offers video- or phone- conference alternatives for a remote interview.

Q: Is it possible to apply to the ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2019-SyG) call if the same PI also intends to apply to an ERC Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG) or Advanced Grant (AdG) call?

A:

Similarly to other ERC frontier calls, a Principal Investigator (PI) may submit proposals to different ERC frontier research calls published under the same Work Programme, but only the first eligible proposal will be evaluated. Ineligible or withdrawn proposals do not count against this limit (ERC Work Programme 2019).

Thus if a PI applies to the ERC 2019 SyG call and the proposal is eligible and evaluated, their other application to a StG, CoG or AdG call under the ERC Work Programme 2019 will not be evaluated.

It is important to note that the year of an ERC call refers to the ERC Work Programme under which the call was made and can be established by its call identifier. A 2019 ERC call is therefore one that was made under the ERC Work Programme 2019 and will have 2019 in the call identifier (for example ERC-2019-SyG).

Example: A proposal submitted to ERC AdG 2019 call will not be evaluated if the PI had already applied to the ERC 2019 SyG call and the SyG proposal was considered eligible, even if the call deadlines are in two different calendar years (in 2018 for the SyG 2019 call and in 2019 for the AdG 2019 call).

Note that it is possible to apply both to the ERC AdG 2018 call and to the ERC 2019 SyG call. In case the PI is selected for funding in the AdG 2018 call and the Grant Agreement is signed, the PI becomes ineligible in the 2019 SyG call, because a PI can hold only one ERC frontier grant at any one time. For further questions please contact ERC-SyG-APPLICANTS@ec.europa.eu.

Q: Can one of the Principal Investigators of a Synergy Grant (ERC-2019-SyG) be based in a country outside of the EU Member States or Associated Countries?

A:

Yes. In case of a Synergy (SyG) Grant one of the Principal Investigators (PI), with the exception of the corresponding PI, can apply with a Host Institution outside of the EU Member States or H2020 Associated Countries.

Note, that except the PI applying with a third country host institution, each PI has to spend at least 50% of their working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country. All PIs have to devote at least 30% of their working time to the ERC-funded project. See then ERC Work Programme 2019.

Q: Are the eligibility conditions for the Principal Investigator (PI) submitting a Synergy Grant (ERC-2019-SyG) applicable to all PIs?

A:

The eligibility criteria, including the restrictions for submission, need to be fulfilled by all Principal investigators (PIs) submitting a Synergy (SyG) proposal of the ERC Work Programme 2019). Please, also note that any PI may participate as PI - in only one ERC frontier research project at any one time.

Q: May a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated in the ERC 2018 Synergy (SyG) call as category B or C in Step 1 or B in step 2 submit a proposal to the ERC 2019 SyG call?

A:

No, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category C at step 1 or, B at step 1 or 2 in the 2018 Synergy (SyG) call may not submit a proposal to the 2019 SyG call.

Please note that the restictions apply to each of the Principal Investigators (PIs) and not only the corresponding Principal Investigator (cPI).

Q: Is it possible to apply to the ERC Synergy Grants (ERC-2019-SyG) for a Principal Investigator (PI) who holds an ongoing ERC grant?

A:

A Principal Investigator (PI) can submit a proposal to the SyG call for proposal if their existing ERC project ends no more than two years after the SyG call deadline (cf. ERC Work Programme 2019, section Restrictions on submission of proposals). For the SyG 2019 call, this means that the ongoing Grant has to end before 8 November 2020.

A PI may hold only one ERC grant at any time. A new frontier research project can only start after the duration of the project fixed in a previous frontier research grant agreement has ended (cf. ERC Work Programme 2019). These eligibility requirements regarding grantees are the same as for the other frontier research grants.

Q: Under call ERC-2019-SyG, where is it possible to find information on the ERC Synergy Grants?